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Malala invited to Buckingham Palace to meet queen

Oct 07, 2013

LONDON - Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, shot last year by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' schooling, has been invited to a Buckingham Palace reception to meet Queen Elizabeth II, officials said Sunday.

The queen and her husband Prince Philip will host the event promoting education in Commonwealth countries on October 18.

"We understand that Malala Yousafzai will be attending the Commonwealth Universities and Education Reception at Buckingham Palace," a palace spokesman said.

Academics and teachers will be among the guests at the October 18 event. The announcement is the latest in a series of impressive accolades for Malala's campaign for girls' schooling.

The 16-year-old is also among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be revealed on October 11.

During an interview with the BBC's Panorama programme to be aired later Monday, Malala said that winning the peace prize would be "a great opportunity" but that universal education remained her true goal.

"If I win Nobel Peace Prize, it would be a great opportunity for me, but if I don't get it, it's not important because my goal is not to get Nobel Peace Prize, my goal is to get peace and my goal is to see the education of every child," she explained.

The teenager told of her plans to return to Pakistan, but only when she had received a full education and was "fully empowered", and described the Taliban's rule of fear which had led her to speak out in the first place.